A PLC programming environment based on a virtual plant

This paper proposes the architecture of a PLC programming environment that enables a visual verification of PLC programs that integrates a PLC program with a corresponding plant model, so that users can intuitively verify the PLC program in a 3D graphic environment. The plant model includes all manufacturing devices of a production system as well as corresponding device programs to perform their tasks in the production system, and a PLC program contains the control logic for the plant model. For the implementation of the proposed PLC programming environment, it is essential to develop an efficient methodology to construct a virtual device model as well as a virtual plant model. The proposed PLC programming environment provides an efficient construction method for a plant model based on the DEVS (Discrete Event Systems Specifications) formalism, which supports the specification of discrete event models in a hierarchical, modular manner.